The XRP Ledger has activated a new feature that allows account owners to assign narrowly defined tasks to separate accounts without exposing the private keys controlling their main holdings. The change is aimed at businesses such as banks, stablecoin issuers and operators of tokenized funds that need routine activity while keeping core assets secured offline.
Delegated access goes live
PermissionDelegationV1_1 was activated on Oct. 8 after receiving the required support from the XRP Ledger’s trusted validators, according to CoinDesk, citing monitoring site XRPL Dashboard. Network upgrades need support from more than 80% of validators for two consecutive weeks. With 35 validators on the current list, that threshold requires at least 29 supporters.
The activation followed an earlier delay. Support for the upgrade fell below the required level in September, resetting the approval countdown before the feature was eventually enabled.
Under the new system, an account owner can authorize another account to carry out selected actions. The delegated account uses its own signing keys, while the primary account’s keys can remain offline. Permissions can also be changed or withdrawn by the owner.
The design addresses a security challenge for companies that process crypto transactions throughout the day. Keeping powerful signing keys on an internet-connected computer can expose a business to greater losses if that system is compromised. Separating authority by role is intended to reduce the range of actions available to a compromised or misused account.
How the controls work for businesses
The feature is designed to separate responsibilities that companies already distinguish internally. For example, a stablecoin issuer could give a compliance account the ability to approve customers while retaining control of its main account and reserves. Another account could be authorized to handle payments.
The delegated permissions limit the types of actions an account may perform, rather than automatically setting a maximum amount it can spend. Each helper account can receive as many as 10 permissions. This means the controls define operational roles, but they do not by themselves create a spending ceiling.
That distinction is important for banks and other financial businesses. Internal divisions between payment operations and compliance teams can now be reflected directly in the ledger’s authorization rules, rather than relying only on company procedures and access policies.
The XRP Ledger already supports issued tokens, including stablecoins and other digital assets. During the second quarter, the network held an average of $3.72 billion in tokenized assets and $539 million in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, according to a report from XRP treasury company Evernorth shared with CoinDesk. Combined, those balances were approximately $4.26 billion.
PaymentBurn warning and validator issue
The rollout does not make every permission safe to use immediately. Official guidance advises users not to delegate PaymentBurn until a separate fix is activated. The permission is intended to allow a helper account to destroy issued tokens, but under certain conditions it may also allow that helper to create them.
The warning applies to tokens issued on the XRP Ledger, not to the creation of new XRP. Other granular permissions are not affected by the issue. The separate fix had received 27 of 35 validator votes on Friday, short of the 29 votes needed to begin its required two-week approval countdown.
Developers are also reviewing a separate issue involving how some XRP Ledger servers count validator support during votes. A report filed on Oct. 8 found that a server may stop counting a validator after the validator changes a routine security key, even when that validator remains online and continues voting.
If two validators are no longer recognized by a server, that server could calculate support against 33 validators instead of 35. As a result, a proposal could appear closer to the approval threshold in that server’s local tally than it actually is. A proposed software patch would identify validators using permanent IDs, but the patch remains under review.
Current XRP market picture
Moneyiar market data at 11:03-11:04 on Oct. 9, 2026, showed XRP at $1.3845128637, down 1.18% over 24 hours and 10.03% over seven days.
Other assets listed in the same Moneyiar data were:
- STABLE: $0.0254257335, down 3.02% in 24 hours and 10.02% over seven days.
- EDGE: $0.3587640353, down 11.39% in 24 hours and 28.20% over seven days.
- BAN: $0.0614672153, down 5.25% in 24 hours and 6.63% over seven days.
The permission upgrade gives institutional users more detailed control over account activity, but the PaymentBurn warning shows that individual permissions still require separate technical review before they are used in production.
